1 The Living Art of Greek Tragedy Marianne McDonald, Ph.D., MRIA ...

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to murder where reparations are made instead of killing following killing in an endless cycle. The cycle of vengeance creates a hydra, that ancient monster who grew another head when one was cut off. If Bin Laden is killed, there will always be someone to replace him. One needs to understand the reasons behind events, not simply assassinate leaders. This trilogy is named after Orestes the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, the king and queen of Mycenae or Argos. The Agamemnon gives the background for Orestes' murder of his mother, which takes place in the second play of the trilogy. The first play is by far the longest that we have of Aeschylus' surviving plays. As usual, the chorus has about half the lines. The Agamemnon is set in front of the palace in Argos and opens with a watchman, posted by Queen Clytemnestra to look for a beacon which will signal that the Trojan War is over. He sees it and tells her. A chorus of old men relates how the war began and how Agamemnon sacrificed Iphigenia, his daughter, to secure fair winds for his voyage to Troy. Clytemnestra tells the chorus that the war at Troy is over, but they doubt her information. A messenger comes on foot confirming this and then King Agamemnon himself enters on a chariot, bringing Cassandra, his war trophy and silent captive. What Clytemnestra says is influenced by Cassandra's silent presence. Clytemnestra welcomes him, and entices him into walking on a crimson carpet. After he enters the house, she murders him in the bath, and boasts about the murder to the chorus as she displays his corpse and Cassandra's next to him. Clytemnestra says she killed him because he murdered their daughter, brought a mistress home, and because she is fulfilling an old curse. Aegisthus, Clytemnestra's paramour in Agamemnon's absence, appears and explains how Agamemnon's father had killed his father's other children, and served them up to him at an ungodly banquet. Thyestes (Aegisthus' father) had seduced the wife of Atreus (Agamemnon's father), and this was his vengeance. The old men of the chorus blame both Clytemnestra and Aegisthus, but the latter, with guards at his side, bullies them into silence. The play and the trilogy shows the working out of a curse in generation after generation. Modern parallels might be found in genetically inherited diseases like hemophilia or alcoholism 24
which haunt families for generations. The chorus of old men propped on staves, who refer to themselves as "shadows walking in daylight," well convey a sense of futility and helplessness in the face of powerful forces: fate, the hatred of Clytemnestra, and the fulfillment of a curse. In Greek tragedy, man was subject to fate but at the same time responsible for his actions. A criminal suffers the consequences of his crime. That suffering teaches man to be wise is called a violent grace, accorded by the gods to man (Agamemnon, 176-83). That suffering teaches man to be wise is called a violent grace, accorded by the gods to man (Agamemnon, 176-83): It was Zeus that ordained that man Must learn through suffering; He drips the pain of remembered sorrow Into the hearts of sleepless men And even the unwilling gain understanding. This is the violent grace of the gods Who sit on high like helmsmen, Guiding the course of man. Aeschylus is an optimist. He thinks that man can learn from his mistakes. In ancient Greek the word hamartia is translated as a mistake; in the New Testament it translates as sin. The ancient Greeks do not have this concept. They feel man could always learn, and there is no such thing as irrevocable as sin, particularly original sin. There can be pollution from crime, but that can be washed away with the proper rituals. The lesson one learns from one’s mistakes and the suffering that follows is an important one. Greek tragedy shows the pain of human beings, and lets an audience learn from the suffering that it has seen. The crimson carpet is a visual dramatic symbol, alluding, among other things, to all the blood shed at Troy, beginning with the blood that flowed from Agamemnon's own child. This carpet is made up of precious tapestries, which, as Agamemnon admits, are suitable only for the gods. His walking on it is an obvious challenge to the gods, and he will lose. 25
Page 1 and 2: Copyright 2010 The Living Art of Gr
Page 3 and 4: Preface Ancient Athens in the fifth
Page 5 and 6: Perseus was able to slay this monst
Page 7 and 8: At first there was no such thing as
Page 9 and 10: emphasizing one heroic character, a
Page 11 and 12: Brief Textual History How we come t
Page 13 and 14: Aeschylus (ca. 525 BC - 456 BC) Aes
Page 15 and 16: Tragedies rarely dealt with histori
Page 17 and 18: Seven Against Thebes illustrates th
Page 19 and 20: lesser number, perhaps the usual nu
Page 21 and 22: has more lines for the main charact
Page 23: Other characters come and go: the f
Page 27 and 28: libations (hence the title) to prop
Page 29 and 30: The Furies surround Orestes, dancin
Page 31 and 32: Performance Tradition This is a ver
Page 33 and 34: heights. This is a universe which n
Page 35 and 36: with Adam. She confronts her mother
Page 37 and 38: The language is poetic and engaging
Page 39 and 40: who leaves with the city’s plague
Page 41 and 42: Peter Stein staged a notable Oreste
Page 43 and 44: ogler and grinder of Troy's golden
Page 45 and 46: America, and India. The varying acc
Page 47 and 48: The actress who played Clytemnestra
Page 49 and 50: inspired by or taken from the work
Page 51 and 52: And worse: One group of soldiers ha
Page 53 and 54: Charles Mee shows us the horror of
Page 55 and 56: tells Jupiter (Zeus) the prophecy:
Page 57 and 58: international conferences held sinc
Page 59 and 60: Prometheus goes on to describe a re
Page 61 and 62: him to write this play. After the S
Page 63 and 64: Antigone, Oedipus Tyrannus, and Oed
Page 65 and 66: and his wife dies cursing him. He h
Page 67 and 68: At the end, we have the dead Haemon
Page 69 and 70: to avoid what had been foretold, bu
Page 71 and 72: Antigone and her sister, Ismene, wh
Page 73 and 74: about Creon; nevertheless, he could
Page 75 and 76:
Electra has fascinated generations,
Page 77 and 78:
actress to express her sorrow. Just
Page 79 and 80:
Philoctetes is a late play, and the
Page 81 and 82:
The set should accommodate the desc
Page 83 and 84:
pain at the end really compensates
Page 85 and 86:
a crowd that rushed through the aud
Page 87 and 88:
western ones. The monumental qualit
Page 89 and 90:
It is an ideal machine designed by
Page 91 and 92:
trapped. Oedipus tries to catch it:
Page 93 and 94:
I swear by this sacred arm of Ogun,
Page 95 and 96:
show rebellious females who, compar
Page 97 and 98:
hatred. Creon thinks he will have t
Page 99 and 100:
made them the same height: there wa
Page 101 and 102:
Oedipus did, but a better future se
Page 103 and 104:
esurrected. This is very different
Page 105 and 106:
countries over twenty years includi
Page 107 and 108:
she agrees. He wants her to rehears
Page 109 and 110:
teaching; Miller seems to have lear
Page 111 and 112:
illusory war, created by the media.
Page 113 and 114:
his adaptation and this director. P
Page 115 and 116:
Beat on their bars together. A hung
Page 117 and 118:
suggestively astride a satyr: the g
Page 119 and 120:
The dates of performance for eight
Page 121 and 122:
connected to the play, to highly ir
Page 123 and 124:
audience. Admetus laments only late
Page 125 and 126:
falling from the ship Argo, in whic
Page 127 and 128:
Children of Heracles This play is a
Page 129 and 130:
shocking for its original audience.
Page 131 and 132:
Phaedra is guilty of an innocent's
Page 133 and 134:
debate ensues between Hermione and
Page 135 and 136:
The action takes place before the h
Page 137 and 138:
This is a moving and dramatic play,
Page 139 and 140:
and to be able to seek impartial ju
Page 141 and 142:
The prologue is delivered by a farm
Page 143 and 144:
The audience see the farmer's hut,
Page 145 and 146:
By the end of the scene with Helen
Page 147 and 148:
There has been criticism for the ra
Page 149 and 150:
The Heracles in this play is differ
Page 151 and 152:
Iphigenia tells Thoas the king that
Page 153 and 154:
delivered Ion to his temple at Delp
Page 155 and 156:
In the midst of the comedy, there a
Page 157 and 158:
Menelaus plead with her. Helen make
Page 159 and 160:
way to Delphi, but were detained be
Page 161 and 162:
Antigone view the army from the pal
Page 163 and 164:
Orestes may have been Euripides' la
Page 165 and 166:
demands the life of Iphigenia. At f
Page 167 and 168:
There are interesting roles for bot
Page 169 and 170:
the wild forces that are disrupting
Page 171 and 172:
moment when she recognizes her son'
Page 173 and 174:
the violence with graphic detail wo
Page 175 and 176:
Rhesus thought he could win the war
Page 177 and 178:
It has been claimed that the first
Page 179 and 180:
hero. Now as a suppliant, Jason lie
Page 181 and 182:
The was a strong feminist slant, an
Page 183 and 184:
Heiner Müller in his Medeamaterial
Page 185 and 186:
making a monster of MEDEA like the
Page 187 and 188:
Medea is also used in the colonial
Page 189 and 190:
a heroine. The chorus are those who
Page 191 and 192:
ecause they were convicted of crime
Page 193 and 194:
also shows Brenda as essentially ma
Page 195 and 196:
choose between being faithful to Ra
Page 197 and 198:
captures the essence of Euripides'
Page 199 and 200:
we see a beautiful night and Eben i
Page 201 and 202:
his farm to Nance, but jealousy cau
Page 203 and 204:
juxtaposition of the ship owners on
Page 205 and 206:
duty in the Middle East, presumably
Page 207 and 208:
Physical violence occurs with the C
Page 209 and 210:
and what I want you to know is that
Page 211 and 212:
He is certainly right about his cla
Page 213 and 214:
HYDRA IS US. The many-headed Attis
Page 215 and 216:
original actress, Kayoko Shiraishi,
Page 217 and 218:
leader really needs only one virtue
Page 219 and 220:
This is more about German history t
Page 221 and 222:
for war, and there I was! We all kn
Page 223 and 224:
Edward Chamberlayne is having an af
Page 225 and 226:
Wilder’s satyr play shows how Apo
Page 227 and 228:
Is like the body of a rat Trapped w
Page 229 and 230:
Guymond de la Touche’s version (1
Page 231 and 232:
although the Ion was a direct prede
Page 233 and 234:
The distinction between divine law,
Page 235 and 236:
Suzuki's Bacchae (1977) also shows
Page 237 and 238:
Mahon changes this to: and they bri
Page 239 and 240:
thing he never appears. It is gradu
Page 241 and 242:
calling it "the wonderful, the myst
Page 243 and 244:
Conclusion There are few versions o
Page 245 and 246:
Texts: The standard Greek texts in
Page 247 and 248:
----- Médée. Paris: la Table Rond
Page 249 and 250:
----- Oedipe, Andromède, La conqu
Page 251 and 252:
Gilbert, Helen, and Joanne Tompkins
Page 253 and 254:
Jeffers, Robinson. Cawdor and Medea
Page 255 and 256:
Müller, Heiner. Heiner Müller Rea
Page 257 and 258:
Shechner, Richard, ed. Dionysus in
Page 259 and 260:
---- The Greek Sense of Theatre: Tr
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1 The Living Art of Greek Tragedy Marianne McDonald, Ph.D., MRIA ...

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